When Boris Keller used to watch his father take photos, he enjoyed seeing the end results. At the age of 12, his parents bought him a Kodak Brownie camera and he started taking his own photographs. He was delighted when his father brought him to their basement and showed him a complete darkroom that he had set up for Boris. Boris says, “Seeing how to develop black and white film and then make prints was magic to me.”
As Boris grew older, he took photographic courses at RIT in the early 70’s. His coursework showed him the possibilities that existed in photography and helped him decide that he wanted to take photos of people in urban environments.
Boris is currently displaying 17 photos in the Neuberger Gallery at Image City. He says, “This exhibit is a very small selection of street photos taken over many years.” He explains that he tries to make most of his shots candidly because “I don’t want to influence the scene in any way.” His biggest challenge when preparing for this exhibit was deciding which of his hundreds of photos to display.
One of his favorite images in this exhibit is called “Walking the Dog.” It was one of the first photos he took when he went to New York City for the first time. He says, “New York City is a street photographer’s amusement park.” He never thought he would find so many subjects to photograph.
Boris hopes that when visitors view his images, they will notice that when comparing some of his scenes taken in the seventies with those taken more recently, the interaction between the people is the same. You can see Boris’s photography at Image City Photography Gallery until February 16, 2025.